League Hopefuls Sweat On Insurance Coverage
Central Coast Herald
Thursday January 16, 2003
CENTRAL Coast players chosen to join the London Broncos for Saturday's trial against the Wests Tigers will know today if their insurance will cover them for the match.
Fears emerged yesterday that players from The Entrance, Wyong, Erina, Woy Woy, and Ourimbah may take the field at their own risk for the game at Central Coast Stadium, Gosford.
Country Rugby League players are generally not covered by the CRL insurer SLE for matches against international sides.
But CRL boss Terry Quinn told the Herald yesterday he was trying to negotiate special terms with insurer SLE to extend coverage for the one-off match. Quinn said the issue would be resolved today.
Central Coast Rugby League division president Brian Cross said it would be unfortunate if the Coast players could not play because, like most league fans, he was looking forward to seeing how they fared.
Entrance first-grade coach Matt Parish said his side would be involved in a game against a team of Wests Tigers triallists before Saturday's main game, which starts at 7.30pm. He said some of his players wanted to `stand by' for a chance to play for the Broncos.
But Parish said he would advise them not to play if they were unprotected by insurance.
Meanwhile, two local juniors have been named in the West Tigers squad to face the Broncos.
Erina product Kevin Henderson and former Umina Bunnies junior Chris Heighington will get their first chance to impress new coach Tim Sheens after moving to the Tigers from the North Sydney Bears' first-division side.
© 2003 Central Coast Herald